


A Good Plan

by tchele



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Pre-Relationship, post 16x15 “Crossing the Line”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 07:14:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17997302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tchele/pseuds/tchele
Summary: Post 16x15 exploring Nick’s reasons for why he is the way he is, and how he spent his “personal day”





	A Good Plan

“Have you heard from Nick?” Ellie asked McGee on the way back from their crime scene as she checked her cellphone.

“No, but he took a personal day.” McGee answered. “Why?”

“I texted him a bunch of times and I haven’t heard anything. He’s a workaholic, remember he worked his first case before he was even on the team. Since when does he take personal time?” Ellie explained.

“He is pretty attached to his phone normally, but I don’t expect to hear from him. He doesn’t call me outside of work much. Does he talk to you outside of work?” McGee asked, though he already knew the answer.

Ellie considered a moment before she answered. “Sometimes. I would have thought I’d hear from him today, I mean we haven’t seen each other in four days.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. He’ll be back annoying you tomorrow.” McGee replied as he parked the car at the Navy Yard. 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Ellie said as she headed into the office.

Once the paperwork was finished up Ellie gathered her things and headed for the elevator. She still hadn’t heard from Nick so she decided to stop by his place on her way home. When she arrived he was just pulling into his garage and she pulled in behind him. “Is your phone broken?” She asked.

“I turned it off.” Nick answered. “What are you doing here?”

“You took a personal day and you didn’t answer your phone.” Ellie replied.

“Awe, were you worried about me?” Nick teased.

“Well the last time you ignored my calls you were spiraling out of control. I wanted to make sure you were ok. Which I see now you are fine so I better go.” Ellie stammered as she turned to leave.

“Stay.” Nick requested. “I’ll order some food and I will tell you why I took a personal day, and why Gibbs let me. Unless you have somewhere else to be, a date or something.”

“No date, I was just going to go home and sleep. I got back from the Ewing late last night, but I can stay for a little while.” Ellie replied.

Ellie made herself comfortable on the couch and Nick ordered Chinese. That task completed he grabbed two bottles of water and joined her on the couch. “So what do you want to know?” He asked as he handed her one of the bottles.

“Why did you take a day off?” Ellie queried.

“So as it turns out I didn’t have a handle on the mentoring thing. One of them kept disappearing and I may have had the other two do the stuff I didn’t want to do.” Nick replied.

“What kind of work?” Ellie asked with a smile.

“Filing, paperwork, my taxes...” Nick trailed off.

“Seriously Nick?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah, it was a mistake. I get that now. So I took today off and did the mentorship thing right. I took them on a tour of a Cruiser that was in port to make up for it.” Nick answered. “I gave one of them, Max, crap about being on his phone the last couple days so I turned mine off today. That’s why I didn’t answer you, it really was turned off all day.”

“I’m glad you made it up to them. They seemed like great kids from their essays. I really was looking forward to mentoring them.” Ellie said.

“They were good kids. Even Max who kept disappearing.” Nick said.

“His father was an agent wasn’t he? Killed in the line of duty?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah, and if I had read the essay I probably would have had an easier time with him. Jack yelled at me. He kept disappearing on me. I found him in Jack’s office and autopsy, and he stole my wallet and went to the vending machines so who knows where else he went.” Nick answered.

“He picked your pocket? I wish I’d gotten to meet him. Sounds like he kept you on your toes.” Ellie teased.

“He did. I feel bad for him, he missed his dad. He wandered around HQ just trying to remember. His dad was a hero and he misses him.” Nick replied, a serious look on his face.

“What wrong?” Ellie asked.

“I miss my dad. Then I feel bad for missing my dad. He isn’t dead, he just didn't care enough to stick around.” Nick confessed.

“You hardly ever talk about your dad.” Ellie said softly.

“Not much to talk about. He split when I was five.” Nick replied. “I think part of why I liked deep cover so much was I didn’t have to think about the past. He didn’t matter, the past was whatever we made up for the op.”

“Sorry Nick.” Ellie said, her hand on his arm in comfort.

“I just wish I knew why he bailed. Was it something I did?” Nick asked.

“It’s not your fault. You were FIVE, there is nothing you could have done to cause him to leave. There was something wrong with him.” Ellie answered, her heart breaking for her partner. 

“I think that’s why I didn’t want kids. I don’t want any kid to go through what I did.” Nick said.

“You could never do that to your child. I mean you stood up to Gibbs about Cody because you wanted what was best for him, you stayed in D.C. to help Lucia with Amanda. You’d never abandon your flesh and blood.” Ellie replied.

“I didn’t think my dad would have either, but he did.” Nick asked softly. “How do you know I wouldn’t?”

“You are one of the most loyal people I’ve ever met. You didn’t tell Gibbs when I went rogue, you never said I told you so, you only ever supported me and watched out for me, and I’m just your friend. That’s how I know you could never abandon your child.” Ellie answered confidently.

Nick took a moment to digest what she said before he spoke. “You’re wrong.” 

“He really did a number on you, didn’t he? You are one of the best people I know.” Ellie replied as she pulled Nick’s face so that she could look him in the eye.

“That’s not what I meant. You aren’t just a friend, not even close.” Nick confessed before leaning forward and capturing her lips in a kiss.

When he pulled away he looked her in the eye before continuing. “I have wanted to do that for months. You are so much more than just my friend.” He said softly.

“Took you long enough.” Ellie replied.

“You knew?” Nick asked with a chuckle.

“I suspected. I thought you were going to say something when I started dating Boyd.” Ellie answered.

“I should have. That’s why I texted him. I guess I thought if I made him think work was more important he’d get bored waiting and he’d go find someone else.” Nick confessed. “I really didn’t want anyone else touching you.”

“I haven’t seen Boyd since then. I went home that night and called him and said it wasn’t going to work out. It wasn’t fair to him to string him along when I was feeling so conflicted about my feelings for my partner.” Ellie replied.

“Your feelings for your partner, huh? How’s Delilah feel about you feelings for McGee?” Nick asked, a teasing tone in his voice. “Kidding. What are we going to do now?”

“We see where this goes, but we take it slow. Dinner, a little more of this...” Ellie answered as she brought her lips to his.

When they broke apart Nick rested his forehead on hers. “I think I like your plan.”

“It’s a good plan. Now where is our dinner?” Ellie teased as her stomach growled.

“Don’t worry B, I will always feed you.” Nick replied as he grabbed his phone to check on their dinner order.

~Fin

**Author's Note:**

> I intended to have this up last week, but I got sick 😷 I also haven’t forgotten my WiP’s and hopefully “Beginnings” will be updated soon.


End file.
